Organic vs. Non-Organic

My dear pal Alana and I were taking the other day about organic vs. non-organic food and cosmetics. I  thought about all of the chemical-laden foods in my kitchen and chemical-laden products I slather all over my body and face everyday. I didn't feel good about it.

Alana then told me that she is trying to make her whole household organic and I panicked.

'I should be doing the exact same thing,' I thought to myself, the voice in my head sounding desperate.
'What have I been doing all this time, feeding myself, Eric and Barkley regular Tostitos instead of the organic ones, and carrots injected with chemicals? I didn't mean to do any harm -- I was trying to be economical -- things that aren't organic are cheaper, but ... What have I done? That's it. I must clean out my entire kitchen and the bathrooms. Anything that's not organic GOES! Anything that is organic stays! And everything else will be replaced! To the Honest Weight Food Co-op, I go!'

I love that place, by the way.

But then I got a hold of myself. Alana told me she is slowly replacing things as she runs out of them.

'This is more doable,' I thought.

How could I get rid of all of this? Please excuse the Miller Lite. I keep finding cans of those in strange places around the house. I don't know why.  And I'm not going to do anything about it.

But then I remembered that I love Lady Speed Stick, Crest 3D whitening toothpaste, Lubriderm body lotion and Special K cereal. And those 100 calorie bags of Kettle Corn. I'll never give up Chi-Chi's salsa. Don't even get me started on my makeup ... And all of my other body products. This would never work.

After that, though, I thought about all of the added hormones we're consuming in our food, the harm that parabens found in cosmetics and body products can do to us, and about BPA found in plastics. It's not good. None of it is.

And that list above is just the tip if the iceberg. It's all so overwhelming to me. I don't really know where to begin.

This is all I can say for certain: artificial sweeteners make you hungrier. I really have to kick that Diet Coke habit and switch to something natural. Like Natural Diet Coke. Does that exist? And does it taste as good as regular Diet Coke? I've also heard, somewhere, at some point, that artificial sweeteners are bad for us? Just kidding. I know they're bad but I can't give them up. I've tried! And I can't! Help?

***PAUSE***

***FLASH FORWARD***

After I finished my ride on that emotional roller coaster, I decided to keep doing what I'm doing. I'm pretty good about buying organic milk and free-range, organic chicken and eggs. And sometimes I buy organic vegetables, fruit and meat. I also sometimes buy organic snacks, and yogurt and sometimes an organic body product ... or six. I think that's good enough for me. I'm not ready to reinvent the wheel.

What are your thoughts on all of this?

Look at that -- 2/3 natural!